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| Wing Flapping to strengthen muscles. |
The osprey chicks are building up to making their first
flight. The majority of time in the nest is spent preening their feathers to
ensure that they are in pristine condition and wing flapping with ever greater
degrees of intensity. The wing flapping is a way of strengthening their muscles
in readiness for flight.
It is incredible that only seven weeks ago, there were three
tiny heads peering upwards from the bottom of the nest and now the three chicks
are virtually adult sized and occupy all of the space in the nest and when the
adults are there as well, it seems totally overcrowded.The male continues to deliver really big fish, the family took 45 minutes to devour a huge fish between them on Monday and afterwards they appeared to be satisfied for a long time.
On Tuesday, the volunteers on duty did not see a fish brought
in for most of the day which could be deliberate action from the male to encourage the chicks to make a first
flight from the nest. If the chicks are
a bit lethargic and unwilling to test out their wings, hunger will drive them
on eventually. The chicks were left for long periods of time in the nest alone and they were unconcerned, appearing to concentrate on more preening and more and more wing flapping.
From this time on, until the end of the osprey season in
early September, it is a good time to keep a watchful eye out for ospreys in
flight. Soon all the chicks from other
successful nest sites in the Upper Tweed Valley as well as the camera nest
family will be flying and fishing at any suitable water bodies, including the
River Tweed. So it is worth keeping a pair of binoculars to hand, when out and
about and double checking any large birds of prey in flight.
If any birds are spotted through telescopes or on camera
with visible ring numbers, please let us know and we can find out where the
bird is from and when it was hatched out. Towards the end of the summer this
becomes very useful information, as birds from further north will be passing
through as well.
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